SONAR.RogueAV!gen3

SONAR.RogueAV!gen3

Updated:

23 February 2016

Risk Impact:

Low

Systems Affected:

Windows

Behavior

SONAR.RogueAV!gen3 is a heuristic detection that is designed to detect variants of known rogue antivirus programs.

Symantec’s antivirus products contain an highly sensitive detection technology designed to detect entirely new risks without traditional signatures. This technology is aimed at detecting malicious software that has been intentionally mutated or morphed by attackers.

If one or more files on your computer have been classified as having a SONAR.RogueAV!gen3 risk, this indicates that the files have suspicious characteristics and therefore might contain a new or unknown risk. However, given the sensitive nature of this detection technology, it may occasionally identify non-malicious, legitimate software programs that also share these behavioral characteristics. Therefore, it is recommended that users manually check all files detected as SONAR.RogueAV!gen3 by Symantec antivirus products for potential misidentification, and submit any suspect files to Symantec Security Response for further analysis. For instructions on how to do this, read Submit Virus Samples
.

In rare cases where a legitimate file has been misidentified and subsequently quarantined, your computer may behave abnormally or you may find that one or more applications no longer function as expected. In such rare situations, you should open the Quarantine in your Symantec antivirus product. From here, you may review the list of all files detected as SONAR.RogueAV!gen3 and, if you identify a potential misidentification, restore the file from quarantine
and allow it to run normally.

The following instructions pertain to all current and recent Symantec antivirus products, including the Symantec AntiVirus and Norton AntiVirus product lines.

Disable System Restore (Windows Me/XP).

Update the virus definitions.

Run a full system scan.

For specific details on each of these steps, read the following instructions.

1. To disable System Restore (Windows Me/XP)
If you are running Windows Me or Windows XP, we recommend that you temporarily turn off System Restore. Windows Me/XP uses this feature, which is enabled by default, to restore the files on your computer in case they become damaged. If a virus, worm, or Trojan infects a computer, System Restore may back up the virus, worm, or Trojan on the computer.

Windows prevents outside programs, including antivirus programs, from modifying System Restore. Therefore, antivirus programs or tools cannot remove threats in the System Restore folder. As a result, System Restore has the potential of restoring an infected file on your computer, even after you have cleaned the infected files from all the other locations.

Also, a virus scan may detect a threat in the System Restore folder even though you have removed the threat.

For instructions on how to turn off System Restore, read your Windows documentation, or one of the following articles:

Note:
When you are completely finished with the removal procedure and are satisfied that the threat has been removed, reenable System Restore by following the instructions in the aforementioned documents.

2. To update the virus definitions
Symantec Security Response fully tests all the virus definitions for quality assurance before they are posted to our servers. There are two ways to obtain the most recent virus definitions:

Running LiveUpdate, which is the easiest way to obtain virus definitions. If you use Norton AntiVirus 2006, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.0, or newer products, LiveUpdate definitions are updated daily. These products include newer technology.

If you use Norton AntiVirus 2005, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0, or earlier products, LiveUpdate definitions are updated weekly. The exception is major outbreaks, when definitions are updated more often.

Downloading the definitions using the Intelligent Updater: The Intelligent Updater virus definitions are posted daily. You should download the definitions from the Symantec Security Response Web site and manually install them.

If any files are detected, follow the instructions displayed by your antivirus program.

Important:
If you are unable to start your Symantec antivirus product or the product reports that it cannot delete a detected file, you may need to stop the risk from running in order to remove it. To do this, run the scan in Safe mode. For instructions, read the document, How to start the computer in Safe Mode
. Once you have restarted in Safe mode, run the scan again.